Door construction



June 29, 1948 R. w. ElslNGER DOOR vCONS'IRL'C':['IQI Filed June 3, 1943 q Roger TME/singen U mw IJL 444i ATTORNEYS Patented June 29, 1948 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE t l DOOR CONSTRUCTION Roger W. Eisinger, Washington, D. C.

Application June 3, 1943, Serial No. 489,533

(C1. zii- 35)v 6 Claims. 1

This invention relates to doors and particularly to wooden doors of panel construction.

It is a general object of the present invention to provide novel and improved wooden doors of the panel type and methods of manufacturing the same.

More particularly, it is an object of the invention to provide a door having desirable non-warping characteristics particularly adapting the same for use where one side is exposed to the weather and the other to the heat of the interior of a house or other building.

n important object of the invention consists in the construction of the rails and stiles of at least two laminae joined in planes parallel to the median plane of the door.

A further object of the invention consists in the capping of the end grain of the stiles with blocks in which the grain extends horizontally or at right angles to the grain of the cores of the stiles for the purpose of excluding moisture from and preventing the warping of these vertical members of the door.

As another object of the invention a method of forming doors is provided in which the stiles and rails are assembled completely and secured together without the panels and are then sawn into at least two sections on planes parallel to the median plane and subsequently reassembled with glue between the sections whereby strains in the several component parts of the frame are relieved.

An important feature of the invention consists in the manner of attaching the stiles and rails to each other by the use of blind butterflies or double dovetail connecting blocks.

Other and further objects and features of the invention will be more apparent to those skilled in the art upon a consideration of the accompanying drawing and following specication, wherein are disclosed several exemplary embodiments of the invention, with the understanding that such combinations and modiiications of the same may be made as fall within the scope of the appended claims without departing from the spirit of the invention.

In said drawings:

Figure 1 is a perspective view of a single panel door constructed according to the present invention, the veneer covers being removed from the stiles to illustrate the composite structure of the same;

Figure 2 is a fragmentary view, on an enlarged scale, of the corner construction, showing one of the laminations from which the door may be assembled;

Figure 3 is a horizontal section taken on line 3-3 of Figure 2 and showing the butterfly inserts;

Figure 4 is a section taken on line l-l of Figure 1 but showing the two sections of the door prior to The manufacturers `of doors for dwellings and for similar construction have experienced great difculty `in assembling a wooden door of the panel type which will not be subject to serious warping or distortion particularly in the winter and when located where one side is exposed to the elements, or, at least, to the low outdoor temperatures, while the other side is subjected to the relatively high temperature and low humidity inside -of the building. ,The greatest difficulty seems to occur in-the lock edge stile which is held closed only at one point near the center of the door. This stile tends to assume a bowed condition with the convex side out, permitting the lock to engage the keeper but withdrawing the top and bottom of the stile from the face of the rebate stop or molding and permitting the entrance of cold drafts. i

In order to overcome this serious fault it is proposed to eliminate the warping, rst, by preventing the entrance of'moisture into the end grain of the stiles where it is normallyexposed at the top and bottom ends of the same. This eliminates the expansion on the outer surface where the moisture is available'and prevents the outer face of the door becoming longer thanthe inner face to cause the warping.` Itis proposed, secondly, to eliminate initial strains both in the stile and rail portions of the door by forming these of two or more laminae which may, if desired, be taken from the same piece of lumber or from entirely diiIerent pieces. In accordance with the iirst form of this `second proposal, the door is completely framed up, but without the panels, and is resawn along the median plane and, after certain treatment, is glued together again with the panels assembled in position. This sawing normally results in the sections taking unequal curves lengthwise of the stiles and convex to the cut surfaces. When the parts are glued together under pressure between flat cauls these curves are taken out and the tensions resulting from the same are made use oi to hold the stiles straight and flat. H l l l In a further endeavor to eliminate warping and twisting of the stiles and rails, if desired, they are -made up from a plurality of blocks arranged in end to end relation with the grain extending lengthwise of the assembled member. It is preferred that each stile have a core made up of at least vtwo rows of end to end arranged blocks and each row is arranged to have exposed on one face a different grain, i. e., edge or face, than the other row. If each row is composed of two layers then l the blocks are arranged so that the edge vgrain of each is exposed to the face grain of another and so on, insuring `against any multiplication of warping effort on the part of any individual block.

Referring now to the drawings for better understanding of the invention` and rst to Figure 1,

there is shown byfwayfof example a single .panel door, although, ofcourse; the-inventioniissfequally as applicable to doors having multiple panels either of the horizontally arranged type or those which are divided both vertically and horizontally into a plurality of panels. Such a panel is shown 1 -i 10` at I and may comprise a single piece of wood or.

a laminated structure as desired. The "panel" is` completely surrounded as `by top and bottom rails II and I2 and stiles I3 and I4. The inner edge r of each of the frame elements II to I4, inclusive, f'

is channeled as at l5 to loosely receive the panel edge which may be reduced--in'thickness las-'isi` common for the purpose. In keepingiwithstand'i ard practice, it 'is preferred yto have the panel. un-

4 It will be clear that it is not essential to first build up a full thickness frame and then saw it in two. Each of the sections 22 and 2li shown in Figurefi` may be independently assembled from Ethin lumber and `later joined together to form a end to end withthe grain running in the direcsecured in these grooves so thatit is free to ex pand and vcontract without splitting \...For.="the a frame surrounding-fthe panel; the ends'ofth'e purpose of-appea-rance, the inner edgesofthe rails '12.0'. and stiles areialso'molde'd-as at Il toa pleasing iin? contour.-" y

In orderl to' assembleV the Atrails and stilesf into* 'f-i 2% rails areinolded to'counterpartsfofwthe groovesl if" customary'- manner 1 for holding ithese 'parts'i toe?y gether. Normally-1 in. *standard 'r constructions means are provided in accordance-withithe`presv ent invention'as will be laterdescribeds:

.ln accordancewith onel method of practicing'i ''f the prescritv vinvention@the -`rails and i-'stiles' of?V either solidor bu-ilteupf construction "aree-made and assembled l as just described iomittingfthe' panel so" asf-to form an open frame. This frameV is then sawedA into'two or more-'similar sections',

preferably alonga rnedian'plane as atlZfin Figl- 'i ure 1. In vFigure iI such an arrangement is shown having two sections'or laminae 22 'and 24 exactl`yy equal and opposite. v` It will lbe observedfthat the-111' sawing divides ythe panel 4receiving -groove Iinto two parts, soathat-,f' when the sections 'aref sep# 1 arated, thefpan'el may be laid in position'arldthe' parts then reassembled and glued;l Thisob-vatesf the necessity of gluing up the jointsv between the y-f-ti'on of the length of the stile. Two rows of these ihlocks sideby side' areillustrated andthe gluev joints lflfbetweenf thek ends of the blocks are `staggered in ythetwo rows to increase the strength lof the stile. Quite naturally the joint 32 beytween therowsis securely glued with approved waterproof glue.

1" As seen in Figure 3,' the joints between the rows Io'flolocks may vinclude tongue and groove connections to'assist in holding the rows straight `lduring the gluing and to provide some addi- 'tional strength :because of the extended glued surface.l Inf-order to provide a satisfactory outer i'`edge`.forthe stile where it is exposed to View and wtof permit the same to be trimmed readily to ad- Y `fj'ust the size of the door, a moderately thick nl ishing strip 5.0 is glued in position also with the' fi use of a tongue and groove jointy if desired. The inneredge of' each stile islik'ewise`- composed of a solid stripsince the edges of this are exposed.4 l

This strip 4I 'receives the molded shape and the-- groove I 6 for the panel.

lVIn orderto`insure against-,the exposureof the end grain of' the strips'fll and il and the blocks it@ at the heads and bottoms of the Stiles, the v c'ore is shorter than the overall height of the door, an'd-theblocks 33 are cut off horizontal, as

"a't- @3. *Preferably-the stri-ps itl and lll -ware v-s'lightlv'longer andv arefalso cutoif horizontal l asz at Mg' A properly shaped block d5 is then se# Vcured across this broken end surface. This block the joints between' therails' andfstilesf' When are cut into-each section ati'e'achfjoint'." These are of butterfly' shapev and mayv be ldefined ``as double dovetails. They span^thejoint as clearly f seen in Figure 2 with the' narrowest orneckpor# tion in line with the junction yof'the two `-VV partsless depth thanthe'halfisection ofthe doorE and v `are in exactV aiinemen't in the ytwo sections s'o' that they -can'ibe assembled lover'doveta'ilfblocksV "f il, as shown in Figure 4. After the panel is posii tioned in the lower section, fthesedovetail blocks 1 are glued and-forcedintov pt 'isition'iri this section.*-

pletes the door construction Aexcept for an'yfedge' lock each rail-fsection toi each `fstille "section but? f also assist-'inrholdingittle ftwoffhalve'sfOlathe:dor A 'l has itsgrain length horizontal and-either at v rails and stiles whilel the panel -islin position: 11 l y It will be recalled'that'no' dowels were used 'ini right angles orl'parallel to that in the rail and and, beingsecurely glued in position, effectively seals 01T 4'any exposed end` grain in the stilel and excludes-'moisture 'fronrthe stile to prevent it` from warping,

' `The whole corernade up` of the blocks, the

"f strips and the end'- cross 'grain sblocks, is covered y i on the irontarid back faces with a suitable veneer of the door"frame. These are blin'd'mortises'of which naturally matches the wood of the strips Vfi-ll and il as nearly asdesired.

Y*When the fdoor vis made up with'cornposite' '"l A"st-iles and rails, without being sawn in two and' reassembled, it is proposed to form one row of l.

the blocks 3l""with"all face grain exposed,` as

'shown at 3dfinf Figure 2,V whilev the second row has all edgefgrain exposedasat Sil". lf-howfever, the dooris-to'fbe made up in half' thickness sections and assembled in the manner ilgrains interposed on opposite faces.

f:.-.iIt will be understood that the door with they at rightangles'to-the grain of the stile core, i

lustrated infFigure' 4f," then, it -is proposedv to have j -the blocks on eachffacewithf the grain exposed I as just described-ibut with. the positions of the This inewfY i' su'res then f-that -feachf block haseach of .its glued Vfaces attached'ito'agrain-differenttherefrom.

compsit'gsstiljesllandrailsrcangzbe usedas made.: f t

up as shown or can be sawed in two on a median plane and reassembled as heretofore described making use of the butterfly blocks to reinforce the joints.

I-claim:

1. In a door stile, in combination, a core composed of two rows of wood blocks, each row having all the blocks therein arranged and glued in end to end relation and with all edge grain exposed on the same face, the rows being' glued in side by side relation with edge grain secured to face grain and the end to end joints staggered, continuous edge strips glued to the two edges of the core, a block covering the whole of eac-h end of the stile and having its grain extending transverse to the length of the stile to cover all end grain therein, and veneer covering the faces of the core, the strips and the end blocks.

2. A ldoor stile as claimed in claim l in which each of said rows of blocks is composed of two layers with the joints in layers staggered, the edge grain of one layer being glued to the face grain of the other.

3. A door stile as claimed in claim 1 in which each of said rows of blocks is composed of two layers parallel to the plane of the door, the joints in one layer being staggered in relation to the other, the edge grain of one layer being glued to the face grain of the other, each row having a diierent grain exposed on one face of the core.

4. A door stile formed of wood with the grain extending longitudinally thereof, a block glued to each end of the stile to close off the en'd grain and having its grain extending in the direction of the thickness of the stile and veneer covering both sides of the stile and `of the blocks.

5. A door -composed of stiles, rails and at least one panel, each stile formed of Wood with the grain extending longitudinally, a block glued to each end of the stile to close oi the end grain and having its grain extending transversely to that in the stile, each corner junction of rail and stile comprising an intertting abutment of end rail grain to longitudinal stile grain and to cross block grain, the rail and stile assembly comprising an integrated structure composed of two layers of wood glued together along the median plane of the door, each of said layers having a half groove at its inner edge forming a channel in Ithe assembly receiving the panel edges.

6. The door as dened in claim 5 in which each of the stile rail junctions includes a spanning butterfly block blind-mortised therein across said abutment and across said median plane.

ROGER W. EISINGE'R.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS 

